Second Kelabit Trip Part 2. Going home via the rapids.

NOTE - On leaving Bario longhouse a T.B. [tuberculosis] man and his T.B. wife asked me to take them on as porters to go down river for treatment with their small daughter.

The Kelabit upriver Agent, Berauk, and his father. Having climbed Punda Pawang Mountain, rest and look back at view of BarIo below and on to Indonesian border. Airing my sweaty shirt at summit.

Go downhill and arrive at Long Semirang. Girl porters go off looking for veg. My boy Mat larking about with the girls in the shelter. Police Constable Oyau and porters going down ladder followed by T.B. woman and child and then me. Up and down a mountain and at arrive at Kubaan school - Headmaster Henry Jala. View of the path to Pa Tik. Leave school for short walk to Kubaan longhouse, seen below, for the night. 

Note size and weight of small girl’s earring. 

The afternoon was spent pleasantly watching the girls bathing and doing the laundry. 

I, with patently painful feet due to the sharp invisible rocks as I enter the water. Much larking around, including Mat pushing girl towards me.

We set off to climb Batu Rirang Mountain. From between Kubaan and Buyo view of Tama Abu Range. 

A little girl (note her earring) and her mother go down to a stream at Paro Kida for a bathe and rest. I remember I was so hot, I just lay down full length flat in the stream and drank gulps of the cool, clear water. Then up and up to Leppo Kayu Bukong and we stopped early enough to prepare a camp for the night at [approx] 5,500 feet. Poor light for filming. Apparently no-one organised anything, nevertheless some porters went off looking for timber to make a shelter. While some looked for thatch to add to what we had brought with us for the roof, others went off hunting for a supper and some lit a fire and prepared to cook. 

Mat with plate and mug. 

Near Buyo view of Mulu Mountain (7,800 feet) in clouds. Note hill rice areas (evidence of being near a longhouse) on the lower slopes. 

Usat Atu, a young Kelabit, at Lau Udok, Buyo Longhouse (short and rather scruffy) beside the Seridan River.

Went down river and camped on shingle at edge of the river. 

Woman and child. 

Tethered fighting cocks in cooking area. 

Note my waterproof tins (ex-Oxford Expedition) and my mosquito net. 

Hunters have produced a wild boar and cut it up. 

Putting on an extra bowsprit and sides to the boats to cope with the likely extra high waves in next day’s rapids.

My boat’s guide, P.C. Oyau, watching the leading boat going fast down Giam (rapid) Batu Kamit or Giam Kakal Batang. 

Slow the film down as our own boat goes down, followed by the third boat. 

Speed up the film again. Giam Tamen Lokor Kamok. Logs deposited there at high water making a bridge. 

Wild ixora bushes in flower. 

Note boat in front of us nearly disappearing from view as it goes over a waterfall. 

Note rocks you can see which are much like the rocks now hidden under the water and which one cannot see and imagine the damage to the boat if the crew causes it to grind over them. 

Unloading the luggage to lighten the boats before going over Giam Tusoh. The guide selecting a route to go down Giam Kerawar. The front guide will have to make quick decisions about the route and the driver work as a team with him. Slow the film as three boats go down - an exhilarating experience. 

Note problem of turning the boat to go upstream without it going sideways or backwards down the next rapid. Me bailing in 3rd boat. 

Speed up the film. Walking on rocks while carrying the stores round Giam Batu Mulong. 

Note woman and child. 

Recce for next part of the route. Me in first boat bailing out. Woman and child going down. Two men placing branches under the water for walkers to stand on. Everyone except me found this helpful but I was worried as I couldn't see the branches under the water muddied by the walkers. 

Offloading boats preparatory to going down a rapid. Empty boats come down the rapid but have to come alongside as next part of Giam Tawak is unnavigable and so the boats have to be hauled painfully over land amongst the rocks, a procedure that does the boats no good. Going down Giam Senapang. 

View of the gorge we have just come down. 

My sweaty and wet pants drying out at Long Tepin at the foot of the last rapid. Butterflies.

We arrive at Long Melinau beside the ulu Tutoh River for the Tamu (Trade Meeting) with the local nomadic Penans. My boat from Marudi is waiting for me and has brought Sarawak Administrative Officer Dolhan. Dato Mohd. Zen Galau and Kapitan Ah Bah and collected en route Penghulu Balam Lejau from the Tinjar and the local Penghulu, Tama Udeng. Butterflies where someone has pee-ed on the beach. 

Penans and shelters built for the Tamu. A daching (an instrument for weighing heavy goods) is hanging from a tree to weigh jungle produce brought in by the Penans. Dolhan in Kenyah hat. Zen Galau in black songkoh. 

Sarawak Administrative Officer Wan Hashim and Baya Malang. 

Ah Bah with a jewellery daching weighing a geliga (bezoar stone) from a bear or monkey. 

Dato Zen Galau. 

View Mt. Mulu from now slow flowing Tutoh.

About Ian Urquhart

Ian Urquhart was a decorated British soldier, posted to Sarawak, where he served from 1947 to 1965. A brilliant linguist with an abiding interest in learning about other people and their cultures, he was a natural fit to be a civil service officer.

In addition to his administrative duties, he studied the indigenous communities he encountered focusing on their varied languages. From 1951 to 1959, Ian published several articles published by the Sarawak Museum Journal.

It was during this period that he conducted many trips into the jungles of Sarawak, in particular the Kelabit highlands and the Ulu Baram. From 1957 his wife Bunty accompanied him and contributed to some of the filming. 

It was these trips that he documented on Silent Standard/Regular 8mm colour and b/w cinefilm leaving his family and the people of Sarawak with not only a detailed account of his life there, he annotated all 30 reels, 23 of which are available in this collection.